These Birmingham city departments are without leaders

At least seven Birmingham city departments lost their leadership during Mayor Randall Woodfin's first week in office.

Public Works director Stephen Fancher has retired from his post, an employee at his office said on Monday. Fancher served in the position for the last five years. He also previously served as the director of public works from 1990 to 2007, according to his LinkedIn page.

Last week, police Chief A.C. Roper announced he was stepping down from his post of 10 years. He will continue as chief until a replacement is hired. Human resources director Peggy Polk also announced last week that she is retiring.

Woodfin was sworn in to office as Birmingham's 30th mayor on Tuesday, Nov. 28.

During a press conference on Wednesday, Woodfin said leadership changes were coming to the community development and economic development departments. He said the departments would be restructured.

John Colon, director of community development, and Lisa Cooper, director of economic development, no longer work for the city, employees in both departments confirmed last week.

On Nov. 29, the mayor's office said Woodfin reduced the number of Mayor William Bell appointees by 53.

There were 95 Bell appointees working for the city on Tuesday, Nov. 28, according to Woodfin's office. By the next day, the number was down to 48.

Late Monday afternoon, Woodfin's office released a list of 47 members of the mayor's staff, department heads and deputy departments heads who were reappointed.

These 31 department heads and deputy department heads were re-appointed by Woodfin:

Aaron Saxton

Alister Hickman

Andre Bittas, director of planning, engineering

Annette Harris

Barbara McGrue

Bettye King

Caesar Fail

Cedric Roberts

Fire Chief Charles Gordon

Darius Hatcher

Darry Burroughs

Donald Jones, fire department

Edwin Revell

Faye Oates-King, director of Birmingham CrossPlex

Frederick Hawkins

Gregory Dawkins, traffic engineer

Henry Irby, deputy chief, police department

Herman Wilhite

Irene Williams, deputy chief, police department

John Whitmer, fire department

Lawrence Cooper

Lee Frazier, city clerk

Mankinta Holloway

Nelvin Short

Reginald Servant

Roosevelt Coar, fire department

Ross Odell Sheffield, fire department

Sedrick Rutledge

Srikanth Karra, chief information officer

Stephen Quarles

Tom Barnett, director of finance

Ed Fields, a senior advisor to Woodfin, said there are no interim department heads.

"However, the mayor has made it clear to his entire staff that the positions and performance of all mayoral appointees, including department heads and deputy department heads, will be assessed within the first 100 days of his administration," Fields said in an email.

Nearly three weeks ago, Woodfin announced that two city department heads were getting new positions on his executive leadership team - leaving those top spots open.

Cedric Sparks was named chief of staff. He had served as executive director of Birmingham's Department of Youth Services since 2002.

Kevin Moore was named chief operating officer. Moore has worked for the city of Birmingham for 22 years, most recently as director of the Birmingham Park and Recreation Department. He also previously served as the director of the Birmingham CrossPlex.

At the same time, Nicole King was named city attorney and head of the city's law department. She replaced Bell appointee Bob Jones. King previously worked as an attorney in the city law department.

At least one other city agency has hired a new leader since Woodfin's win in the runoff race with Bell on Oct. 3.

The Birmingham Public Library Board of Trustees hired Floyd Council as the new executive director of the library system on Oct. 16. He started in his post on Nov. 13.

Council previously served as the central library administrator for the Atlanta Fulton Public Library System.